Useless
by Imaginary Girl Of Sapphire
Summary: Who's this new guy, Ryo Arai? Everyone knows the obvious things, like he's the new popular shoujo writer and he's now working with Marukawa Publishing. But who's 'he? Why is he so distant? Why is he so cold? Why does he contradict the sweetness of his stories? More importantly...why does Yuu find him...intriguing? Yaoi
1. Chapter 1

This story is pure fiction I do NOT own anything in Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi. All that's mine is my OC.

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Ryo let out a quiet sigh as he looked out the window to see the airport with life still moving about to get work done. It was early in the morning, and to see people _working_ at this time made him feel tired. 'Must suck for them.' He commented quietly to himself.

He let out a small yawn as he rested his head back to the seat to wait for the plane he was already in to hurry up and take off. Music played through his earbuds as he let his eyelids close to really start letting the feeling flood in that he was leaving America-possibly for good. " _...mimi ni nokoru anata no koe wo mabuta-_ "

Ryo was shot out from his music when he felt a tap on his shoulder. A bit annoyed, he took off one bud to look up and see a flight attendant looking at him with that smile that was very clearly forced. "Sir, you have to turn off your phone, we're about to take off."

There was a part of Ryo-the part that had to force himself out of bed at three in the morning without coffee to make sure he made this flight-that wanted to ask the flight attendant _why_ he had to turn off his phone. But, he figured she was just doing her job and he shouldn't give her a hard time… Plus if he tried questioning her she'd just be there longer to ruin his personal space-that he paid extra to have in first class. "Ok." Was all he said as he turned off his phone and put it back into the pocket of his sweater.

He once again turned to face the window, and he felt the lingering eyes of the flight attendant before the sound of her footsteps made it clear she was gone.

'Of course she'd stare.' Ryo thought to himself, a little exhausted but still expecting no less. He just let out a quiet sigh before rusting through his pockets for the letter he'd folded up a few times ahead of time.

Opening it he read through the contents. " _Dear Arai-san,_

 _We are very pleased to find that you do in fact plan on moving closer to Marukawa Publishing to now work full time in our shoujo department, Emerald. We very much look forward to your arrival here, and for your work to be published more easily. As you know you're a very pleasing new mangaka, and we wish to show you nothing but the most-"_

'Blah blah blah… Here it is.'

" _Once you've reached the airport we will have the transportation you requested waiting for you to drop you off at your new home-"_

Ryo was at least relieved that he just needed to get out of the building to get to his new home. He wouldn't have liked having to walk through crowds of people, or sit in the car with someone who didn't know about him beforehand. Both of those options just ended up with staring, and he knew it was either for one or the other. Either they starred because he was apparently attractive-to both men and women-or because of _that_.

At this point, when it came to _that_ , Ryo has gotten used to the stares and people asking things like 'Are you ok?' or 'Were you born like that?' and so on and so on. However, that still doesn't take away that the staring and questions don't make him uncomfortable…

So, he just quietly stared out the window, and saw his reflection in the glass. From his pale skin to his brown eyes, and to his head of pure white hair. 'I hope it isn't cold in Japan.' Was all he thought as he felt the plane begin to move. 'I hate the cold.'

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 **(AN)** Please Review :)


	2. Chapter 2

**AN)** Mind you, it's been a while since I've watched Sekai, so I'm not sure if I got Yuu's personality right. Please do tell. Anyways, here.

* * *

This story is pure fiction I do NOT own anything in Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi. All that's mine is the plot and my OC.

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Ryo looked down at his feet lazily as he put the next one in front of the other. He took a lazy peek over to the side of his little path that lead straight down fifty feet into the sidewalk. He didn't think much of it, and just went back to his walking, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket.

'It's too damn cold.' He thought bitterly as he tried to nuzzle his nose more into his pale blue scarf.

Just as he felt his foot slightly shake at a small misstep he felt his phone vibrate. Steadying himself, he pulled out his phone, and looked down to see he has a new message.

'Yuki?' He thought before reading the message.

 _"Hi? How have been liking Japan lately? I hear it's still a little cold there so, if it's you, I'm wondering. And has that job of yours been good? Remember to tell me when you release a story. :)"_

He was about to hit reply to answer her little message, but before he could so much as press a button his phone vibrated to a new message again. He answered to it, and was not surprised to see that it was from Yuki yet again.

 _"I know that this all very late (you already being there for two weeks) but I've been really busy lately. I'm sorry. I also won't be able to visit for a while since all the equipment seems to be glitching out. I promise I'll try to come by as soon as I can! So keep working hard!"_

Once again, he was about to try and reply, but his phone vibrated again to another received message. He let out a sigh as he pressed to see what it was, and once again saw the name 'Yuki'.

 _"Oh! And what's the area like? I hope you haven't just been secluding yourself to your apartment building again! Get out some more! So that when I get there you can be my guild! OK, that's it. Bye bye~!"_

He waited a moment just to make sure she meant it, and she seemed to have. So, he went on and pressed reply.

 _"It's cold, and I hate it, but other than that it's fine. The jobs easy enough, I already turned in my manuscript a while ago, and I wasn't listening when they told me when it'd be ready to go, so I'll tell you. Stop apologizing, I already get it. Just remember to tell me ahead of time instead of just dropping in."_

Ryo paused for a moment, and thought about the whole 'get out there' part of her message. There was nothing he loathed more than having to actually go out and about to where other people are. All other people did were flirt with him or bug him with questions over his hair. However… Yuki, annoyingly, did have a sort of… _push_ on him.

He narrowed his eyes slightly at his phone before finishing up the message.

 _"I'll try to go out."_

Then, he pressed send.

Despite Yuki's constant text messages at once, he didn't expect another message from her. When she said she's busy that meant she was busy.

So, in order to fulfill his unhappy deal, he jumped off the ledge and landed nicely on the rooftop floor.

'I'm going to hate this with every fiber of my being.' He thought bitterly as he reached out with his gloved hand to open the door to the rooftop of his apartment building.

-IGOS-

As Ryo walked around the streets with small amounts of people around him, he unconsciously pulled down at his beanie. He got a few odd looks for wearing a beanie and hoodie in early spring, but he knew he'd end up getting more just because of his hair color.

And, as usual, a few people stared at him with that look in their eyes. Lust. He's been dealing with it for as long as he could remember and at this point he no longer cared. Especially since-

He shook his head slightly and bit down on his bottom lip annoyed with his train of thought. 'It's fine. It's days away from here, and there's no way you could run into one another in a high class area.'

Swallowing down a lump in his throat he decided he didn't want to freeze anymore and made a turn into the nearest public building he saw.

And, with his luck, he landed himself in a bar of all places. He just went ahead and sat himself at on a stool. He looked around and saw there weren't that many people, maybe because it's a wednesday during work hours.

Feeling a little bit better with the feel of a heater going on, he took off his beanie and sweater-placing it on the stool next to him. He leaned his head into the palm of his hand and felt exhaustion from walking more than he normally would as he sighed out gently.

Ryo just sat there, and didn't feel like ordering quite yet. In fact, he didn't feel like a drink in general. He just wanted to sit for a moment or two and relax-

"Hey."

'Crap.' He looked up to the bartender-who, for once, didn't seem too interested in him-as she handed down a drink in front of him. Knowing just what it meant, he made a face at the drink. "Who sent this?"

He thought he heard a slight laugh from her, but didn't bother looking up. "This happen a lot?"

"The record is four minutes."

"Four minutes?"

"How long it takes since I've walked in."

Another small laugh came from her as she grabbed a rag to go off and clean something. "It's from the guy closest to the door." She whispered before moving off to the other side of the bar.

Ryo just pushed the drink aside, and didn't want to even look anywhere near the door. He was hopelessly hoping that he didn't have to run into this problem today. There was rarely an outing where he wasn't being flirted with. Young, old, boy, girl, pretty… no so pretty, everyone. For some reason people were constantly drawn to him, and it was nothing sort of annoying.

"Is that seat taken?"

'And here it comes.' Ryo looked up toward the voice and saw a middle aged man with admittedly good looks. Black business slicked hair, glasses hiding dark brown eyes, and he was wearing a suit. 'Early break maybe.'

Ryo just looked up at him with his intents written all over his face clear as day, and after a second of thinking how much time he has on his hands he just sighed and waved at him. "No, it's open."

"Wonderful." With that he sat on the seat next to Ryo that didn't carry all of his things. He leaned in a bit, but seemed to not understand not too close-yet. "My name is-"

"I don't need names. Just tell me what you want." Ryo looked him straight in the eyes with his own.

For a moment he was taken aback by the answer, but once he caught himself the lust increased in his eyes and he leaned a little closer. "You got my drink, but you haven't touched it. Is it not to your taste?" Subtly, he reached over and held the glass in his hand-not taking his eyes off of Ryo-and moved it away from them.

"I'm not an alcohol person." 'It smells like shit.'

"That's something I'll have to keep in mind." He seemed happy with the fact that Ryo wasn't backing away from his advances. "You know, I've never really been one to look at boys,"

'Great, he's one of these types.'

"but you really do have a nice face. I especially love just how pale your skin is."

'He's a biter isn't he.'

"How about I take you back to my place? I finished my work, and have a lot of extra free time."

Ryo just thought about his schedule for a moment, and realized he had enough free time. They shouldn't be giving him a review on his manuscript until tonight. So, why not just accept the offer? God knows how many times he's already done it. How does it matter anymore who he does it with and why? Every time someone comes up to him and asks for 'special' time, he just complies so that he can done and over with it.

He never got pleasure from it. It was just another human reaction at this point. It meant nothing anymore, so why bother with whom it is anymore? If it makes them hurry up and go, what does it matter?

As the man began to place his hand on Ryo's thigh, he opened his mouth to just have it done and over with. "I-"

"There you are!"

'Huh?'

Ryo and the man were caught off guard by the sudden sound of a relatively relieved voice seemed to aimed at them. Ryo looked up-the man took his hand off of his thigh-and saw another man. Casually dressed, light brown hair, reddish brown eyes, and looked around Ryo's age.

He had never seen this guy before in his life, but he looked at him as though he were an old friend. The mystery man walked over to them, and stood between the two as he looked down at Ryo with an average smile. "I thought you said we were meeting at the other place so I got confused about the location. Sorry to keep you waiting."

'What the hell is this guy-'

Said person finally looked over to the middle aged man-looking just as confused as Ryo-as though he had just noticed him. "Were you talking to him?"

The middle aged man suddenly looked anxy at the new one's presence. "N-No, I was just taking my leave." He put on a professional smile and got up to his feet. He looked over Ryo without looking him in the eyes properly. "Sorry to disturb you. Goodbye." With that he walked out the bar with a bag of his close to his side.

Ryo just looked over at the man, and back up to the new one.

Before Ryo could even let a word out the new guy looked down at him with his smile gone. "You do know how to tell someone to just leave don't you?"

For a moment, Ryo was taken back by the answer, and then he realized what had just happened. 'So he decided to be hero of the day.' "I do, but it would take too much effort to teach him what it meant."

He saw the edge of his lips slightly curl up, but it quickly went back. "So, you were planning to just have his way with you?"

"I wasn't planning on having some stranger talk to me about pervs groping my thigh."

There was a silence, and then the new guy just sighed out and took the seat that the previous man was sitting in.

"Am I going to have to tell you to just leave?" Not that he cared much.

"Not unless you want to just shoo off regular company. I don't plan to do any groping for a while. I also just need a drink."

"Other wise you wouldn't be in a bar." He mumbled to himself, but knowing full well his companion could hear him.

"You're in a bar but with no drink. Why are you here."

"Wanted to get away from the cold."

"It's spring."

"It's cold."

… "Whatever you say."

The bartender came around to them, and let out a little laugh as she looked at the new guy. He gave her a mildly confused look, but just let it go and made his order. Ryo, not being good with drinks, had no idea what he said. She just went right away and poured him his drink.

As Ryo watched him take a sip of his drink he wondered why he was still there.

"Yuu."

"Huh?"

"My name is Yuu."

"I didn't ask."

"No you didn't, but I wanted to say it."

"...Are you already drunk."

"Hilarious."

"I'm not telling you mine."

"I didn't ask for it."

Ryo felt slightly irritated, but at the same time calm. It's been awhile since he talked to someone that didn't have work or sex in mind. The last time he did was probably with Yuki.

"Isn't it work hours?"

"A miracle happened, we actually finished on time so now I have a break."

"Everyone seems to be taking a break today." He mumbled again.

Ryo asked the bartender-currently smiling at them from afar-for a cup of water, and she complied.

"You're not drinking alcohol in a bar?"

"I hate the smell, taste, everything. I also prefer to not lose my conscious."

"Loss of consciousness is why most people tend to drink."

"It doesn't make them any better."

"Yeah, but at least they don't have enough consciousness to remember that."

"Are you planning to get drunk off your ass?"

"No. I haven't been that depressed in a while."

"'A while'?... Was it a breakup?"

"...You know, you're asking a lot of questions for someone that seems to hate them."

"I never said I hate them, and I have nothing better to do."

"You seem like the type to."

"I just hate stupid and repetitive questions."

"...It was something like that… I'll tell you all the details if you tell me your name."

"Why do you want it?"

"I don't. I just like that you don't want me to hear it."

"Are you drunk?"

"I'm getting there."

"...Ryo."

"...I liked him, and another guy liked him. He picked the other guy."

"Not a lot of details."

"Those are all the details. All the ones I'll tell you."

"Now who's being hilarious."

"...You really so bored to want to know about another guy's horrible love life?"

Ryo actually thought about it for a while. He could just walk out this bar, go home, and spend to rest of the day sleeping or watch some Shoujo anime… But, Yuki did tell him to try going out, and she wouldn't want to hear that he only spent twenty minutes outside. He also knew that he could never lie to her…

"Why not? I've heard plenty worse." 'So much worse.'

Yuu just looked at him for a moment, as though he were trying to comprehend him. Like if there really were any deeper meaning as to why this stranger was willing to sit around and listen to him mope. Of course, there wasn't any. Ryo didn't want to go outside, but someone precious to him did, and this is _technically_ outside. That's all it is.

Finally, Yuu just took another gulp of his drink, asked for the bartender for another drink, and then he made himself comfortable. "Let's see… I met him in middle school."

-IGOS-

"...You don't look so good."

"I don't feel too good either. I think I'm done drinking."

"Aren't you supposed to drown yourself it in?"

"I have work tomorrow, and no one's giving me a ride." Yuu pushed the drink away from himself, and began to get off the stool, staggering a bit when his feet hit the floor. He looked tipsy, but nothing too bad. Which made Ryo just a little envious. He's been drinking for half an hour, and yet it only took one shot to have Ryo on his stomach.

Ryo watched as Yuu payed for his drinks and he looked over at Ryo with clear eyes-despite his slight sway.

"I'm assuming I'll never see you again."

Ryo just shrugged up at him. "Probably."

Yuu looked up in thought. "That sucks, you kind of owe me for the whole shooing off that pervert thing." There was a small smirk on his face as he looked back to Ryo. "Could have made you buy me lunch."

There was a slight plummet in his stomach. Ryo could see perfectly well that Yuu was joking, but he never liked being in debt to someone. "..."

"Well, whatever." Yuu turned around, and began to make his leave. "See ya."

Ryo thought for a second, and without much thought, grabbed his sweater in one hand, and walked over to the departing figure.

He gave Yuu a slight tap on the shoulder to catch his attention, and, before he could say anything, Ryo pulled down on his collar-he didn't realize he's a little taller than him-and brought his mouth down onto his. Before he could react, Ryo shoved his tongue into his mouth.

He's done this a million times. Looking back into those widened eyes, Ryo just did as he normally did. His technique-so he's heard-was perfect. He rolled his tongue around, and let Yuu have a good taste of him. All the while trying to make this as fast as possible.

Finally feeling satisfied, Ryo pulled back-panting lightly-and wiped his mouth. He looked at Yuu as he seemed lost for words.

Before anything else could happen, he lightly patted Yuu on the shoulder, and began moving to the door. "There, now we're even." And he walked right out the door.

He decided he'd spent enough time outside to crawl back into bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**(AN)** Ok, so all I really wanted to say was that I deleted the whole 'First Impression' story because... I wrote that story a long time ago, and to be honest I don't really remember what I wanted to try going with having this and that connected. So, this story is officially not a sequel to _anything_. It's just a story, and enjoy.

* * *

"Haaaahhhhh…" Ryo contently sighed as he walked out of the steaming bathroom.

He wore a regular light purple T shirt and a regular pair of grey sweats, but he felt more refreshed than he had in more than a week. With little water droplets dripping from the tips of his pure white hair, he gently used the towel to wipe them off.

There were a lot of things that Ryo disliked, and even more things he hated, but one of the only things he absolutely loved was simply having a long, hot shower.

With all the work he needed to do, he didn't have enough time to simply enjoy the heated water properly. However, he's finished nice and clean with it all, and with a total of four days to spare. It was more than just a little pleasing to know he'd have so much extra time to just sit around in his spacious apartment and lightheartedly think about what next to do with his story, without the nagging to get it done.

He was also pleased to finally be able to stay in his own home instead of having to work in a room half the size of his living room with three random people he didn't know drawing and writing away.

He didn't smile, but he felt so fresh that he could have sworn he saw floating flowers.

Then, he heard the music box melody of 'Lacie' playing in the air. While he does in fact enjoy the song, he suddenly felt snapped out of his happiness knowing full well he set it as his ringtone.

'I swear if it's the damn company again.' He thought bitterly as he walked across the room to see his phone sitting on top of the kitchen bar he knew he'd never use.

With irritation boiling in his stream he just looked down at it expecting to see the word 'Work.' However, to his pleasant surprise, the only word he saw was actually a name.

'Yuki.'

Feeling a slight tug at his lips, Ryo immediately answered the phone and placed it at his ear.

Before he could even try to say 'hello', she, like always, beat him to it.

"Oh, thank god, I was worried you'd be too busy to answer your phone~!"

He felt a nice warmth form in his chest at the simple sound of her voice. It was as loud and abrasive as always, but it gave him a calming sense of familiarity, which was what he needed more than anything right now.

Taking a few strides to relax on the couch, Ryo let out a half hearted sigh. "Aren't _you_ supposed to be busy right now?"

He felt more relaxed when he heard her light laugh through the phone. "Yeah well things ran a lot smoother today than we all thought it would, so I had time to spare. Besides, it's not like you have a good history with properly answering your phone what with you hardly ever having it on you."

"That's because other than work, you're the only one that contacts me."

"Don't forget that bankrupted prince of _something_ trying to get you to wire him money."

"Yeah him too."

Ryo liked this. He missed Yuki, so much. It also annoyed him that the only person he could ever talk to were people at work that only ever talked about his work. It grew more and more mind numbingly boring.

But this, as always, was perfectly natural.

Hearing the sound of Yuki's laughter never failed to make his day. "Well, speaking of, how's work been going? Have any idea when they'll be releasing your next volume? Don't forget that I get a best friends discount~."

"That wasn't a thing in America it's not going to be a thing here."

"Well a girl can dream~! No, but seriously, when's its release date. I want to be waiting in line to get it as soon as it's on sale. Or, you know, have someone do it for me at least. Like _you_ ~."

"I'll be busy."

"You don't even know when the release date is do you? As always, you never pay attention to the little things Ryo. One of these days that little habit of yours is going to come right back and bite you in the butt~." Yuki hardly ever took a breath while speaking, but after years of listening to her, Ryo has begun to barely notice it, and just enjoy knowing how he could leave most the talking to her.

"I'm still not waiting in a line."

"Fiiine! I'll just order it online, but I really don't trust overseas delivery. Remember what happened to that special clock that was supposed to have the voice recordings to the main characters to-"

"Yes, yes, it got lost and never made it to you."

"Exactly! Even after those seven times I tried to call them to make sure they had my right address. I really hate trusting that my orders will be flying across god knows where without meeting some kind of horrible doom!"

"It'd be easier if you just let me buy you a copy."

"No! Absolutely not! I'm supporting you and your career in the _proper_ way and giving my own money-earned with my own sweat and tears-to your hard work. What kind of friend could I say I was if I let you donate to yourself without me even giving up a dime."

"You're ridiculous." But he couldn't stop himself from the small smile curling at his lips.

"Say what you will, but I stand by my morals. But, anyways-after getting _way_ off topic-how has work been? Last I heard you were barely turning in your manuscript. How's it been going since then?"

"I turned in my final work."

"Fast and hard working as usual, I would expect nothing less of you. That means you have free time?"

"Pretty much."

"Really? They don't have any extra work lying around?"

"...Why?" Ryo suddenly got suspicious of Yuki's intentions.

"Oh, just wondering a little… They called you for something didn't they?"

...He could lie, but he could never seem to get the rest of his body on board with that plan whenever it included Yuki. "They called me earlier and asked if I could assist in helping this one author that is far beyond late turn in his work."

"...Rrryyooooo?"

'Crap.' "I'm not doing it Yuki."

"Ok first of all, I didn't say anything about doing it. But, since we're _now_ on that topic, why not~!" She whined half heartedly.

"Because I don't want to."

"Ok, ok, I get it. You don't want to help some person that you not only have no connections to, but that you also think is most likely just an absolute slacker for not having turned in his work ages ago, even though _you_ can never get through your head that not everyone can write out pages and pages of work as fast as you do. Right?"

"Since you've already explain it, we're done with that."

But, of course, "Oh no we're not! Ryo, honey, darling, my most favorite person in the whole world,"

"How long will this take?"

"I love you, but you're a complete shut in that won't let so much as a _fly_ get into your life."

"I don't like flies."

" _So_ , you really need to get out more. Meet new people. Get some fresh air. Make a coffee date with someone. And for god's sake make someone closer than a freakin assistant!"

"That's what you're for."

"Yes, but Ryo you need to meet new people! You need to make some friends. You need more people _in_ your life."

"You're all I need."

"...Hahhhh."

It was true though. Ever since she persistently broke through his little wall, he's only ever had her. She was his friend, she was his everything. She's the only person that has and will ever understand him more than anyone else. He really truly believed that. Just as much as he believed that ever meeting her was nothing short of an absolute miracle, and that running into more than one miracle is nearly impossible.

He's already learned what lack of a miracle did. He's been learning that since the day he was born.

Ryo listened intently to her, and felt slightly guilty for what he said as he listened to her rare pauses.

"...You really shouldn't be saying stuff like that Ryo. You'll only get me hoping."

He could hear it, the slighter sorrow to her voice, and the stung like a thousand needles in his stomach. He even began to wonder how stupid he was for ever even _thinking_ of saying something like that to her. "Yuki-"

"Now I'm not saying that you'll meet Buddha, Jesus, or even freakin Gandhi in there, but I'm suggesting for you to at least learn to get out there a little more. Consider it a little baby step into being able to be a non socially awkward member of society. You know, like that one book I read said. Baby steps~."

...He realized she was back to her ever babbling self, and just decided to feel a little relieved. "I'm not socially awkward."

"But you get what I mean. You really need to learn how to be more adventures! You never know what you'll run into. Maybe you'll find a puppy, or win the lottery. I don't know! The options are endless! So you're going to get your freshly showered butt-I know you took a shower by now-into some clothes, and go tell them that you'll help what's-his-face finish his work got it?!"

...Knowing full well this was not a battler that he would win, Ryo just sighed lightly-letting his head fall in defeat. "Fine…"

"Alright then! Now, who's the mangaka?"

"Chiharu Yoshikawa."

"...WHAT!" Ryo had already pulled the phone away from his ear in advance, knowing this would happen. "RYO, NOW YOU _REALLY_ HAVE TO GO! I MEAN-I MEAN! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT'D BE YOSHIKAWA-SENSEI! YOU'RE REALLY GOING TO MEET HER?!"

"Him."

"I DON'T CARE IF IT'S A FUCKING WHALE, RYO! I LOVE HIS STORIES! I mean I love yours more of course, but I know you already. SO YOU HAVE TO GET ME AN AUTOGRAPH RYO! YOU HAVE TO, _PLEASE_!"

...Ryo couldn't actually see her puppy eyes, but he knew they were there, and that was enough for him. Sadly.

…..

'I knew this was a horribly annoying idea.'Ryo thought with the utmost bitterness.

He had went off and dressed himself into a pair of black jeans and a plain white shirt, and called the damn editor that had asked if he could assist in the first place-someone named Takasomething-and made his way to the said location.

Finally there, he couldn't help but feel incredibly bored since he was left waiting in a hallway for help. 'I thought they said they were in a hurry so why the hell am I-?'

His continuous bitter rant was cut short when he noticed a small girl go up to him, and -surprise surprise-she was blushing red. "Y-You're Arai-san right?"

To his discomfort, he saw her eyeing both his face and his hair back and forth. "Yes, that's me, so where exactly am I supposed to be going?"

She flinched at the tone of his voice, and he did feel slightly guilty, but he was being forced to do a waste of his own time because his friend-currently overseas-want him to _socialize_.

"R-Right this way."

With that he just followed after the tiny girl that-hopefully-has lost interest in him.

…...

"H-Here it is." She said with her head hung low, and, before Ryo could make up for the rudeness from earlier by thanking her, she dashed away down the hall.

He just sighed and looked at the door exhaustively.

Rubbing the back of his neck he just opened it.

He only took a look at the mess the three people he managed to look at were before trying to speak.

"Hello-."

Then, all of a sudden, there was a figure in front of him. To, very little surprise, he saw it was actually his editor-who look fair enough like crap.

"I'm sorry for having to ask for your help, Arai-sensei, but you're the only other person that was available right now."

Ryo felt uncomfortable at the slight bow, but just nodded along. "It's fine, I did have free time." 'Besides you're not the one that nagged at me to go off and _meet_ people.'

"Thank you, please sit right over."

Ryo just went along and took the first seat that he saw and didn't even bother looking at any of the other people-who the majority seemed to be taking a long moment to properly stare at him-and looked back up to the editor whose name he couldn't bother to remember. "Now what do I do?"

Immediately the editor handed him a piece of paper that was already divided up into panels. "In this one you can just go ahead and draw out an aquarium setting. You can ask Yoshikawa-sensei for approval when you're done. Is that right, sensei?"

Ryo followed his editor's eyes and saw some scrawny looking man that had large rolled under his eyes. 'So that's Chiharu Yoshikawa.' Ryo thought, remembering what Yuki nagged him about.

The man just blinked up dazed out, Ryo couldn't even tell if he actually heard what he was asked. He met Ryo's eyes and just nervously said, "Y-Yeah, that's fine." before going back to whatever he was scribbling. However, after only half a second, he looked back up at Ryo with slightly widened eyes. Well, to be more specific, he was staring at Ryo's hair.

Realizing how many eyes were on him, he was growing very impatient. He opened his mouth to say only god knows what-.

"Get back to work, you can all gawk at him once we're done."

Ryo blinked at the sound of the voice, and looked over to see it was some brunette man scribbling off as fast as he could. Feeling like he was missing something, he just watched as the girls that were already staring, and Chiharu just get back to their work-all looking slightly embarrassed.

Ryo shot the man that spoke up a quick glance that was not returned, and shrugged it off, going off to work.

….

"We're done!" Nearly everyone seemed to yell at once exhaustively.

And, before Ryo could even make a peep, the three editors in the room-his, some brunette that reeked of newbie, and a tall man with a resting bitch face-began carefully scrambling up the pages, and they gave their thanks, a bow, before running all at once out the door.

Ryo was left to blink blankly as everyone fell either forward or backward, tired. Everyone seemed to even forget Ryo was there until he let out a half hearted sigh.

All the girls turned their eyes to him immediately, and, all of them having slight blushes, said, "Thank you very much" in union. A girl with messily curly brown hair even said, "You really saved us there, Arai-Sensei!"

"Ok." Was all Ryo could really say. It wasn't much of hard work to him.

"R-Really!" Then, quite bored, Ryo met eyes with the actual author. The amount of gratitude that was in them made Ryo slightly bothered. "You saved us a lot! I-I'm really sorry you had to come in to help."

"I already told my editor that I had a free schedule, so something like this was fine." 'Not really _fine_ so much as doable.' He muttered in his head.

However, Chiharu's nervous smile wouldn't falter. "But it still feels like so much! I-If there's something I can do then-"

"An autograph."

The sudden request seemed to take him off guard slightly. "'A-Autograph?'

"A friend of mine wanted one."

Finally, the gears seemed to be turning in his head. "O-Oh! O-Of course! Just um. Hold on." He began looking around through the loose and cut papers everywhere before pulling out a sole survivor-minus the slight tear in the corner. "This'll do! Um… D-Do they want a their name on it or...?"

"Her name's Yuki."

"O-Ok…" Then he-with a slightly shaky hand-began to write out his signature, and a little note.

While waiting the few seconds Ryo followed the feeling of being watched, and saw all three of the girls were still staring curiously at him. That is until they saw him notice them, and they all began looking in any other direction.

"Done! Um, Ryo-san."

Ryo finally looked back over at the man as he held out the slice of paper. To which, Ryo wordlessly reached over and took it.

 _"Thank you for being a fan Yuuki-san, please keep reading!"_

It slightly bugged Ryo that he spelled her name a little wrong, and that his signature was pretty messy-probably due to the exhaustion-but he knew Yuki would oddly love it more because of that. Something about the rarity and one in a million nonsense she said when she got a limited edition manga copy were one of the words was misspelled.

Ryo just folded up the paper and tucked it away in his pocket without taking another glance at anyone else. "Thank you very much." Then, he began to get up to finally leave the room for good. "I'll be taking my lea-"

"Arai-sensei."

Ryo paused, feeling quite annoyed, and looked back over at the brunette that had earlier told everyone to get back to work. The pair of reddish brown eyes looked at him looking somewhat bothered.

"I actually had something I wanted to talk to you about."

Ryo's eyes slightly narrowed. He spent the time he needed to here, and he wanted to go back home. He wanted to take another long shower, laze around, and watch some shojos if he could. He didn't feel like spending another unneeded amount of time here.

"I'm a little busy." It was a lie, but-

"But you said you had a lot of free time."

'Damn.' "I had something after this."

"Then why would you go somewhere where you wouldn't know how long until you were done?"

'Cheeky bastard.' Ryo growled in his head.

He was about to snap at the brunette, but knew that Yuki would get mad if she found out instead of socializing he got into a fight. Then, he got mad at himself for practically being in the palm of her hands. Either way he just gave in and sat back down-now very annoyed.

"Fine, what?"

"...We can talk after everyone leaves."

 _'Arrogant prick!'_

Ryo couldn't even pay attention to whatever on earth Chiharu was telling the brunette-while looking something between worried and baffled. He couldn't even bother dealing with the female assistances that were still eyeing him.

All Ryo could bring himself to do was be very annoyed at him situation, and wish he didn't pick up that phone call.

…..

 _Finally_ , everyone had left other than the two of them, and Ryo could stop wondering why he didn't just get up and leave.

He looked up at the brunette-that for some reason decided to stand right over him-but all he did was stare down at him as though he were either waiting for something, or trying to figure something out.

Though… Ryo did feel like he was forgetting something when he looked at the guy… 'Oh well.'

"Well, everyone's gone now, so what is it?" 'So that I can leave already.'

But the guy just stared at him some more, to both Ryo's annoyance and discomfort. He even slightly leaned back, away from the stare.

Then, the guy just let out a small breath of air. "Do you really not remember me?"

"...Huh?"

"We met at a bar."

Ryo tried to think, but can only run into blanks. "...Did I sleep with you?"

To this, the brunette even looked slightly disgusted. "No."

"Then you're going to have to more specific." Ryo leaned back on the chair-slightly comfortable-and leaned his cheek on the palm of his hand.

"You kissed me." He slightly muttered it, and there was a very weak tint of pink on his cheeks, but he also looked fairly annoyed by it.

'...And?' "If I kept track of every person I kissed I wouldn't have room for anything else." He wasn't exactly proud of it, but it was true.

Then, the brunette's eyes slightly widened by that, but there didn't look to be that much surprise in them. "My names Yuu, and I stopped some guy dressed as an office worker from taking you off somewhere."

Now the wheels were really trying to turn in Ryo's head. 'A bar, a business guy, saved the day, Yuu… Oh.' "Ooh. You were the guy with the love triangle problem right?"

Yuu looked fairly bothered by the mention of that. "That's really what you remember me by?"

"Well you did talk an awful lot about it."

"You asked me to."

"I did?" 'Why would I care about something like that?'

"It wasn't that long ago."

"Well, my brain doesn't bother to remember bar meeting."

"...Hahhhh, whatever. There's a reason I wanted to talk to you."

" _Do_ you want to sleep with me?"

Once again, he looked appalled by that idea. "No."

"Just asking." 'That's usually the reason people want to talk to me.'

"How often do you sleep with people?" Yuu muttered it to himself, but Ryo could still hear him loud and clear.

"What _did_ you want to talk about then?"

"You left your beanie at the bar."

. . . _This_ caught Ryo's attention. "What?"

"Your beanie, you left it there."

Ryo's eyes widened at that. He even leaned a little more forward. "Do you have it?!" His tone shifted from indifferent to concerned.

In reply, Yuu blinked at him, looking quite surprised. "It's at my house."

"Where do you live?!" Ryo immediately got up, and thought over what he needed to take, and then remembered he didn't bring anything with him. **  
**

"I can just bring it tomorrow-."

Ryo cut of Yuu quickly. "I'm not waiting until tomorrow!" Then she paused for a moment, and realized-as he looked at a surprised Yuu-that he was yelling. He tried to sigh, and calm himself down, but he still felt antsy. "Where do you live?"

...There was a pause before Yuu just sighed. "Just follow me I'll show you." And with that, Yuu walked out, and Ryo did as he was told.


End file.
